


Justice for Alya (And Adrien. And The Rest Of The Class): enigmaticEditor's "Outfoxed"

by Keyseeker



Series: Fanfic Analyses [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Sugar, Alya Césaire-centric, Alya sugar, F/F, I mean all of these function as reviews and recs to an extent this is just more than usual, Marinette Sugar, Meta, Multi, Seriously if you want a good sugary Alya-centric fic, Spoilers for chapter 1, This is one you should check out, This one also kinda functions as a review and a rec so I didn't want to spoil too much here, fanfic analysis, not fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25998481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keyseeker/pseuds/Keyseeker
Summary: “Outfoxed” by enigmaticEditor stands out among “Lila Exposed” fics as being one of the few of that genre that douses Alya and Adrien in sugar while refraining from salting the class or anyone besides Lila and Gabriel.It starts when the glamour around Lila breaks, when Lila makes a claim - or at least IMPLIES a claim - that Alya knows for a fact cannot be true. Lila ‘accidentally’ exposing a necklace that looks an awful lot like the Fox Miraculous and implying that SHE’S Rena Rouge.And everything comes tumbling down. All the lies, all the deceptions, they all shatter like glass.This isn’t an unusual way for Alya to discover Lila was lying. It’s everything that happens afterwards that make this fic stand out.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Series: Fanfic Analyses [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883209
Comments: 13
Kudos: 84





	Justice for Alya (And Adrien. And The Rest Of The Class): enigmaticEditor's "Outfoxed"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enigmaticEditor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticEditor/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Outfoxed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23908072) by [enigmaticEditor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticEditor/pseuds/enigmaticEditor). 



“Outfoxed” by enigmaticEditor stands out among “Lila Exposed” fics as being one of the few of that genre that douses Alya and Adrien in sugar while refraining from salting the class or anyone besides Lila and Gabriel.

It starts when the glamour around Lila breaks, when Lila makes a claim - or at least IMPLIES a claim - that Alya knows for a fact cannot be true. Lila ‘accidentally’ exposing a necklace that looks an awful lot like the Fox Miraculous and implying that SHE’S Rena Rouge.

And everything comes tumbling down. All the lies, all the deceptions, they all shatter like glass.

This isn’t an unusual way for Alya to discover Lila was lying. It’s everything that happens afterwards that make this fic stand out.

Immediately her mind starts racing, trying to figure out what magic was at work and how to break it, thinking of who she needs to recruit… and she remembers Marinette.

Alya both feels a little guilty because she didn’t believe Marinette and Marinette HAD tried to tell her the truth - again, not unusual - but she’s also a bit angry and upset at her which is particularly interesting.

Marinette had tried to tell Alya the truth about Lila, that was true - but she had better means at her disposal to force Alya to see that Lila was lying, to possibly break past her glamour. She’s well-connected and could’ve gotten, say, Jagged Stone himself to refute Lila’s lies. She had the power to bring all that crashing down and yet allowed the rest of the class to continue being duped by Lila.

Normally this accusation is leveled at Adrien in Chameleon saltfics - and that comes up in Outfoxed as well, but I’ll get to that later - not at Marinette, though it holds true for her as well (and moreso than Alya even knows, considering she’s Ladybug and one of Lila’s favorite lies is how close she is to Ladybug). It’s always been something that bugged me with saltfics - and heck, even with canon - so I loved seeing it addressed here.

Her reasoning made sense, especially considering the stress Marinette’s been under this whole time. She was terrified that Lila would become akumatized again and hurt people, hurt her, hurt Chat, hurt Adrien, hurt random civilians. 

Hurting Adrien was ESPECIALLY prevalent in her mind since Volpina had already fooled her into thinking she was gonna let Adrien fall before. And just… while Marinette agreed with Alya afterwards that it would’ve been better to try to do something about Lila, she was just too scared before, with having experienced Volpina going after someone she loved.

I really appreciate when authors have the characters maybe not make the absolute best, most ideal choice in a circumstance, not acting in the most ideal way when viewed as an impassive outsider, but for those characters to act and react in ways that make sense when taking into account their mindset and emotions at the time. Because that’s how people actually operate. 

And Alya just… she UNDERSTANDS! I especially like even before she finds out why Marinette hasn’t tried hard to expose Lila, when she still doesn’t know, and comes across Marinette curled into a ball crying. 

She knows what to do. Has done it before. Knows how to read Marinette and just focuses on calming her down first, prioritizes getting her to a better state before broaching the subject of Lila. With all the salt about Alya supposedly not being a good friend, it was nice to see displayed just why she’s an AWESOME friend to Marinette.

But what really gets to me is the sort-of pep talk Alya gave Marinette after finding out she was reluctant to try harder to expose her, but before she found out more details on WHY. Because while the speech she gave was good Marinette sugar, for the reader, it’s great Alya sugar as well.

The reason why it stung that Marinette was willing to just let Lila continue lying? Why it hurt Alya to see Marinette seemingly just… give up like that? Came down to the philosophy Alya first tried to impart to Marinette when she first met her, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing”, something which it seems like Marinette can’t make herself believe anymore. But Alya’s there to boost her up, to remind her of how far she’s come and what she’s capable of.

> Alya’s hand moved to find Marinette’s. Once she did, she gave it a squeeze and didn’t let go. “You mean so much to me, girl, you know that? I was new here, that first day. I had no one, and not only were you willing to befriend the weirdo who wouldn’t shut up about superheroes, you believed in what I said. You let me inspire you, and you inspire me too. You always have. I know you’re scared of akumas. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you running to hide whenever one shows up, even if it’s nowhere near us. But you’ve been working past it, even taking charge sometimes in your own way! Darkblade, Syren, Captain Hardrock. I remember those too. I liked to think I was part of the reason for that. A part of you, as much as you’re a part of me.” (Chapter 1)

This was just… this was so good! Alya gives some of her fears and insecurities, with being the new girl and considering herself to be a weirdo, while also boosting herself up by being proud of her effect on Marinette. It gives off a sort of “teacher is proud of their student” vibe, since Alya helped start Marinette on the path to standing up for herself.

She also notes Marinette’s own insecurities here with her apparently being afraid of akumas, while using her growth past that to boost her up, much like she boosted herself earlier. Her glowing review of both herself and Marinette weaving together to make both more meaningful and influential than they would be in isolation.

On a personal note, I’ve always thought Alya’s role in Origins with her helping to defend Marinette, encourage her, and Marinette’s deep appreciation and respect for Alya because of that has been massively overlooked, with very few fics acknowledging how meaningful that was to Marinette, to the point that she pushed Tikki to go to Alya instead (though admittedly a lot of that was her own insecurities talking). Heck, both times she transformed in Origins were because Alya was in danger, and Alya’s encouragement helped persuade her to actually jump into the fight with Stoneheart! 

Alya continues encouraging Marinette by giving her own mindset as part of an inspiration.

> Tears were beginning to streak down her best friend’s face again. Alya plowed ahead. “I can’t do much to help Ladybug-” God, she wanted so badly to tell Marinette about Rena Rouge, but she couldn’t endanger her. Not now, not ever. “-but I can’t do nothing. The Ladyblog lets me show people, more directly than any news channel ever will, that Ladybug and Chat Noir and everyone else are fighting for us. That they’re real people, brave and determined and wonderful, but in need of our support and understanding, too. Of course akuma-chasing is scary, I’ve probably died more times than anyone else in Paris, but I. Can’t. Do. Nothing.” (Chapter 1)

She’s leading by example, trying to show Marinette how and why she can and should stand up for what’s right. Acknowledging how scared she can be, that there’s a limit to what she can do, but still doing what she can to help. 

If Alya wasn’t scared at all and WAS able to do everything she wanted to do to help Ladybug the speech wouldn’t have been as effective. By showing how she tries anyway even though it’s difficult because the cause is so important to her, she shows Marinette how and why she should do the same. 

After Marinette agrees with Alya about trying to stop Lila they start going over what they know in order to come up with a plan to stop her, Marinette’s newfound determination shining through. She can have some major insecurities, as would be expected of anyone, especially a kid, but what makes her interesting and inspiring is how she works past it, compensates, or how other people help her if she can’t do something herself. 

And then Marinette tells Alya that she wasn’t the only one who knew - Adrien did too.

And that sets Alya storming off to find Adrien before Marinette can explain further.

Remember that Adrien salt I mentioned earlier? This is where it comes into play.

It starts with her thoughts on the situation before even meeting up with Adrien:

> How dare Agreste leave his “friend” out to dry like that? It didn’t even make sense. She could understand Adrien wanting to avoid conflict. Nino had shared bits and pieces of Adrien’s home life, and it didn’t seem like the boy had ever had much success standing up for himself. Appeasement must be all he knew how to do. But this? This was something else entirely. He could have at least been there for Marinette. (Chapter 1)

The anger over Adrien supposedly leaving Marinette high and dry while Lila continued lying (and even targeting) Marinette is common in Chameleon-related Adrien salt. But even at this stage, even while angry at Adrien, she still acknowledges his perspective and why he might not do so.

Alya’s FURIOUS right now and it shows, not only in her actions (demanding Adrien follow her and slamming him against a wall) but even in the word choices of her thoughts, with her thinking he has “a backbone made of rubber” and commenting on his “stupid designer shirt”. That anger’s just generally clouding her thoughts right then, which is realistic even if it’s not entirely fair to Adrien; emotions are like that, they’re NOT always fair.

Luckily, Adrien DOES have an explanation.

> “You knew what Lila was doing. This whole goddamn time. And you did nothing. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
> 
> “Lila wasn’t hurting anyone-”
> 
> “She was hurting Marinette,” snarled Alya. Some rational part of her was surprised she hadn’t been akumatized. Right now, she wasn’t sure who she’d go for first as a supervillain; the liar herself, or her pet enabler.
> 
> “-at first! At first, Alya! You didn’t let me finish! I know, okay? Why do you think Lila got Marinette expelled, and then immediately turned around and got her back in? I made her!” (Chapter 1)

I really like this. Adrien has a point - Lila WASN’T hurting anyone, not as far as he knew (and as far as Alya knows for that matter). There was speculation among the fanbase that Lila might promise things she couldn’t deliver on, depriving the class of legit opportunities in favor of made-up ones, but that doesn’t appear to have actually happened. It could be argued that her using her brainwashing magic is inherently harmful, but it’s not like anyone knew that’s what it was; he and Marinette just knew she was lying, and while that’s generally not something to approve of, it’s not the end of the world either. He and Marinette have done it quite a bit themselves, albeit for better reasons than Lila was (usually).

Something I like even better though? This takes into account Adrien’s actions AFTER Chameleon, him finding out that Lila was actively dangerous and malicious and protecting Marinette as best he knew how.

> Meekly, Adrien explained the deal he’d made. Implicitly, before that horrible day, and explicitly, after it. He’d been using himself as a distraction almost since the beginning. Drawing fire for Marinette, sacrificing himself, like Chat Noir did so often for Ladybug. And he hadn’t said anything, not wanting anyone to worry about him.
> 
> Marinette’s words ran through Alya’s mind, and she checked them against her memories. While she hadn’t paid nearly as much attention to either Lila or Adrien… that bitch really had been all over him for months now. Alya knew Adrien didn’t like being touched unless he completely trusted the other person. The first time Nino had clapped him on the back unexpectedly, he’d nearly fled the room. Chloé was one thing; as despicable as she could be, she had been Adrien’s only friend for a long time. But Lila? Adrien clearly disliked Lila, but had let her do that to him, just to keep her from bothering his friend, and now had signed up to deal with an even worse version of it at his goddamn job to protect Marinette.
> 
> Alya was getting a headache. If in the next hour Nino did something to give her this kind of emotional whiplash, she’d shatter on the spot. Her heart was already in pieces, for Adrien as well as Marinette now. These idiots. (Chapter 1)

This whole thing is a really good response to all the “Adrien left Marinette to rot and even discouraged her from defending herself!” salt. Because no. He didn’t. Once he saw that Marinette was in danger he did everything in his power, everything he knew how to do to protect her, even though it meant enduring Lila’s harassment, having to deal with her when he wanted nothing to do with her. Most Chameleon-inspired Adrien salt conveniently ignores that. 

And Alya recognizes and appreciates it, can see what he’s been going through, and just wants to hug and protect her friends who’ve been through so much. 

There’s one last bit of this encounter I want to emphasize, something that Alya needs to knock into Adrien’s skull, something that he needed to hear and understand.

> Then she pulled away and slapped him in the face. Not hard, but enough to get her point across. “You were still wrong, Adrien. Lila was harming someone right from the beginning. She was harming you. And you matter too.” (Chapter 1)

This is an important point. She WAS harming him from the beginning. Heck, her introduction, the very first glimpse of her we ever got, was her stroking her finger down Adrien’s chest while he looked VERY freaked out, then her dragging him away and lying to him, and she didn’t exactly improve in subsequent appearances.

She may have deliberately tried to hurt Marinette (as both Marinette and Ladybug, though she didn’t know that) the most, but she’s harmed Adrien a lot too, even though that was not her end goal - she was still fine with that outcome.

But Alya’s on the case. She’ll protect her friends.

I don’t want to go TOO in-depth on the rest of the story - I figure this’ll be more of a rec and review, so I don’t want to spoiler it a lot - but I will say this.

The romance here may not be the main point, but it helps to develop the characters a bit, and the Alyanette in particular serves to show off what an awesome person Alya is by letting Marinette show her faith in her, show why she loves, cares, and respects Alya so much, all while letting Alya demonstrate why that faith is well-placed and just letting Alya have a good time and have nice things.

And the Lila exposure? Puts Alya front and center, letting her do most of it (most of what we the reader see anyway), and letting her have fun along the way.

I’ve seen many Lila exposure fics. But none that shine the spotlight on Alya quite as well as this one does.


End file.
